Lowndes Co. Sheriff talks about dangers of sending threatening messages
EAST MISSISSIPPI COMMUNITY COLLEGE (WCBI) – We are continuing coverage on the arrest of two people in connection with a threat at East Mississippi Community College’s Mayhew campus.
You’ll remember on Tuesday, Sept.9, around 5 p.m., EMCC received a threat through its electronic message board, which alerted authorities.
Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins says this is something they take seriously.
ChatBot – it’s an electronic message board that East Mississippi Community College uses to communicate with students.
“These text messages are offering assistance to the students, you know, to help them with campus life or assist with finding their classes and things of that nature,” Hawkins said.
Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins said the system sent a message to a student, and during the exchange, the student replied with a message that said, “I’m coming to shoot up the campus.”
Hawkins said the AI system recognized this message as a threat and alerted campus authorities.
“They, in return, push the panic button and call 911 and said, Hey, we got a threat, someone’s coming to the school to shoot it up. We’re putting the school on lockdown, and we’re sending students home,” Hawkins said.
As Lowndes County deputies were responding to help the school, they received a call that someone was walking down the road near campus wearing a ski mask.
Deputies saw Michael Frierson and asked if he had any weapons. They said he told them he had a pistol in his pocket and another in his bookbag.
“Well, they start searching him and find that he has six loaded magazines, two pistols, a couple of ski masks, gloves, and a change of clothing,” Hawkins said.
This alerted deputies that this might be a potential threat. He also reportedly had marijuana on him and was taken into custody.
Investigators said the actual threat came from student Evan Vick, who was in West Point at the time. He was arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat.
He is awaiting an initial appearance and is being held at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center.
“We are trying to determine if either suspect knew one another or had any contact with one another or were connected in any kind of way. At this point, we don’t see a connection between the two. It appears that Mr. Frierson, the gentleman wearing the ski mask, just happened to be in the wrong area at the wrong time, carrying guns and ammunition, headed to the campus,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said it is a felony to possess a weapon on a school campus, and deputies stopped him from committing that felony before he got there.
Frierson was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a controlled substance.
“Was his intent to harm anybody once he got to campus? We don’t know,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins says at this point, there is no threat to the school, students, or faculty. But there is a message to anyone who communicates through a device, social media, or AI.
“You cannot make threats like this. It’s against the law,” Hawkins said. “It is a felony to make a threat and threaten to cause harm to a mass group of people, whether it be in a park, at a school, or a business. You know, you can’t send those kind of messages. I think the student thought he was talking to an AI generated machine, but didn’t realize what he was doing would cause such an alert and a panic throughout the community. But with with all the the school shootings that we have across the country and in the statistics show that this is a common event, it heightens our attention. And we want to make sure that everybody is safe and that we don’t have an event like that here in our county.”
He says this requires a lot of resources from the department, which is an expense to the county, and he said this requires a lot of resources from the department, which is an expense to the county.
In a statement to WCBI, EMCC President Scott Alsobrooks said, “The response from our EMCC Police Department, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Mississippi Highway Patrol, and U.S. Marshals Service was swift and decisive.” He goes on to say, “Their professionalism, vigilance, and cohesive efforts ensured the safety of our students, faculty, and staff. All of us at EMCC are extremely grateful for their efforts. This is a reminder for us all to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity or threats of violence.”
This case is still under investigation.
Anyone with information on this case should contact the Lowndes County Sheriff’s office or Golden Triangle Crimestoppers.
